There are optimistic goals, and then there are unrealistic expectations.

[agoo758]

While coaches were being let go in 2009/10 due to yelling at or hitting players (or locking them in the shed :rolleyes: ) Coaches were being let go this year because.....well..... basically because they weren't winning national championships every year. Why have AD's become so unreasonable in their expectations, especially considering the programs that made the coaching change on that premise?

Ralph Friedgen: Fired after not only being named ACC coach of the year, but resurrecting a football program who, hadn't had any real success since the death of Len Bias.

Dave Wannstedt: Fired only one year (by the same genius who fired Solich and replaced him with Callahan at Nebraska) after leading Pitt to their first ten win season in God knows how long. Sure they were a little disappointing this year, does that mean Oklahoma should have fired Stoops after 2005 and 2009?!

Bill Stewart: Not only a talented coach , but a class act and loyal to the state where he coached. Unlike his successor, Holgerson, Stewart would likely have little to no interest of leaving in the near future, and West Virginia probably would have been guarenteed a solid team for a long time, instead they have someone who will either disappoint, or move on to a better job if he is sucessfull.


Now as a Bonus, I would like to mention two teams off the top of my head that have stuck with their coach through some thin years.

Illinois/ Ron Zook: After a surprising rose bowl appearance in 2007, Illinois returned to its rightful place in the big 10 cellar, however, he was not fired, and with a few coaching changes, the team was much improved this year. The patience by the Illinois AD is appearing to pay off, and we will see if Zook can mantain the success

Paul Wulff/ Washington State: Let's not sugarcoat this. When Wulff arrived at Diet Washington, they were BAAAAAAAD, and I think the last three seasons turn out the way they did regardless of who is coaching, the AD seems to agree, and have decided to keep him.




So with all this being said. what is your take on the first three schools, and what is your take on the latter two?

[sooner59]

I don't understand the how Maryland or Pitt just realistically justify their choices. Bill Stewart seems like a great guy and a good coach, but I don't know enough about him to say it was a mistake to move on toward another head coach. I don't think Zook was the answer, but he did have a great season for Illinois standards. Wulff...I just don't know. He did make them better, though. Tough call.

[Leroy Lizard]

Working at a university in any capacity is a very political job. I don't know what went on behind the scenes at Pitt, West Virginia, or Maryland. Maybe those coaches did things that made it easier to fire them.

And Zook may be one of those types that can glide across choppy waters. Lane Kiffin definitely can; otherwise he would be a position coach at some podunk school right now.

[agoo758]

Lane Kiffin definitely can (glide across choppy waters); otherwise he would be a position coach at some podunk school right now.

No kidding, to make it to the top in a free market society, you either have to accomplish much, or make many friends, it blows my mind how Kiffin has made it to the top without doing either!:confused:

[Jason Alexander]

Very surprised that Wash St. didn't let Wulff go and also happy they didn't. I cant wait to see how much they improve this year.

[CrimsonRez]

FIRE VENABLES!!!! ;) seriously though, I don't get the Maryland firing, I mean where do they come off thinking they are some billy bada**es, firing the coach that got them where they are now? Good lord they need to bring ol' Edsall and the boys to Norman for punishment :)

[olevetonahill]

These schools aint OU so i really dont give a ****.

But continually Changing Coaches , makes about as much sense Gettin a divorce every time yer marriage hits a few rocky patches.

Most of these guys are good coaches, Give em time to get the **** worked out.

[agoo758]

FIRE VENABLES!!!! ;) seriously though, I don't get the Maryland firing, I mean where do they come off thinking they are some billy bada**es, firing the coach that got them where they are now? Good lord they need to bring ol' Edsall and the boys to Norman for punishment :)

Seriously? What is Edsall going to do? Average 8 or 9 wins a season and get fired because he is not winning National Championships? Do they think he is Jesus Christ that he is going to win 11 games every season? I am sure he will do a good job, but I don't see how he would be any better than Ralph.

Edit: This post sounds like I'm disagreeing with you on something, I'm not. :O

[bmjlr]

These schools aint OU so i really dont give a ****.

But continually Changing Coaches , makes about as much sense Gettin a divorce every time yer marriage hits a few rocky patches.

Most of these guys are good coaches, Give em time to get the **** worked out.

^^^^^THIS

[Leroy Lizard]

These schools aint OU so i really dont give a ****.

But continually Changing Coaches , makes about as much sense Gettin a divorce every time yer marriage hits a few rocky patches.

Most of these guys are good coaches, Give em time to get the **** worked out.

Especially if your school doesn't have a big-time winning tradition.

The problem is Boise St. and TCU. Everyone thinks that they're a potential TCU in the making if only they had that right coaching combination. So they go through one coach after another hoping to hit it big.

To a certain extent, Stoops twisted the knife into newly hired coaches when he won the national title in only his second season. (Mack Brown nods his head.) ADs now figure that if the coach isn't getting them into major bowls by this second season, they're missing out on the coach that can if they don't dump him.

It's like a person winning $50 at the slot machine, only to find out that someone else in the joint won $5,000. They can't think of what they won; they can only think about what they could have won if they had only played a different machine.

[Sooner95]

Personally I thought Stewart road the coat tails of his fiesta bowl win over us to his head coaching job. If we thump them instead, does he get the gig?

Maryland confuses the heck out of me and I can only think something went down behind the scenes for them to run a coach of the year. Then again Maryland only needs to come up with 10 wins and the ACC crown would probably be theirs.

Wannsteads time was just up. He has been there awhile and outside of a few good accomplishments, maybe they just tired of it. Again, the Big east can be easily had, so perhaps that goes into the thinking as well.

Illinois is just that, an occasional Big10 team that finds themselves battling in the top 3 of that conf from time to time. No one expects much more. Might get more difficult now for Zook, now that you have to finish ahead of 5 teams as opposed to 10/11 before to win a "division". They might expect him to get that team closer to the top now.

And WSU? They suck. Does it really matter if they change coaches?? lol

Leroy makes a good point regarding Stoops and his quick assention (sp) to a NC. This has not been helped with other "new" coaches quickly winning National Titles either, (Saban, Meyers, Chizink). These school are attempting to catch lightning in a bottle, and although it does happen, you still need a great foundation to achieve this. It goes beyond X's and O's anymore. If you do not have the facilities or the recruiting power, you'll never get there.

[Jacie]

On the other side of the ledger, Paul Pasqualoni, the former Syracuse coach, was hired by UConn to lead their program. Pasqualoni is the winningest coach in Syracuse history and had been a coordinator for Miami and most recently, Dallas.

[bluedogok]

For the most the AD's aren't the ones with itchy trigger fingers, it's the money behind them. Most big money boosters are more impatient than the regular fan and just because they give money they think they can make something happen.

There was a bit of strife down here this season as some big money people wanted Mack booted to move Muschump up while others didn't. Dodds wanted Mack to clean house while some influential boosters wanted to completely clean house after Muschump left. So no one was really happy with anything that happened.

When you have many people bending the ear of the AD he tends to have more power than the dictatorial boosters like OSU, Oregon and Maryland have. Friedgen was pretty much fired at the direction of an influential booster but I don't think the booster had the power to get the guy he wanted in the position past the administration. I think they should have waited another year before firing Friedgen, then maybe he would have been able to get Leach in there but with the lawsuits flying it was not the right time. I bet Edsall will have a short leash until Leach is hired by someone.

With Pitt, their AD is Steve Pederson.....enough said.
He won't allow mediocrity on his watch :rolleyes:

[Leroy Lizard]

For the most the AD's aren't the ones with itchy trigger fingers, it's the money behind them. Most big money boosters are more impatient than the regular fan and just because they give money they think they can make something happen.

There was a bit of strife down here this season as some big money people wanted Mack booted to move Muschump up while others didn't. Dodds wanted Mack to clean house while some influential boosters wanted to completely clean house after Muschump left. So no one was really happy with anything that happened.

When you have many people bending the ear of the AD he tends to have more power than the dictatorial boosters like OSU, Oregon and Maryland have. Friedgen was pretty much fired at the direction of an influential booster but I don't think the booster had the power to get the guy he wanted in the position past the administration. I think they should have waited another year before firing Friedgen, then maybe he would have been able to get Leach in there but with the lawsuits flying it was not the right time. I bet Edsall will have a short leash until Leach is hired by someone.

With Pitt, their AD is Steve Pederson.....enough said.
He won't allow mediocrity on his watch :rolleyes:

This is why it is so important that a coach knows how to conduct himself among supporters of the program.

Often we rail against boosters, but these are typically successful alumni who love their university and, therefore, attend a lot of the school's social functions. A jackass coach can ruin the social atmosphere that these guys love. So naturally they will withdraw support very quickly if the coach just doesn't get it.

So if you're Stoops, you play nice with the Gaylords. If you're Gundy, you schmooze with T Boone. And if you can't figure that out, you probably have no business coaching at this level.

[PLaw]

No kidding, to make it to the top in a free market society, you either have to accomplish much, or make many friends, it blows my mind how Kiffin has made it to the top without doing either!:confused:

Laney boy rides on his daddy's rep, period.

BOOMER

[agoo758]

Light news day, so I'll bump this page, I would also like to add randy shannon to the list.

[oudavid1]

Maryland needed to fill seats. thats the main reason. Blame Debbie Yow. She had the Stadium expanded and then they couldnt fill it.